South Bank Centre, London

At the center of the South Bank Center is the Royal Festival Hall, which was built between 1951 and 1965 and can seat 3,097. Its acoustics are first class, providing ideal conditions for both orchestral and choral performances. The Hall also incorporates the Voice Box and Saison Poetry Library. Alongside it are two smaller concert halls - the Queen Elizabeth Hall (seating 902) and the Purcell Room (seating 368), which opened in 1967.

The Hayward Gallery, part of the South Bank Center arts complex, is built in a style which aptly reflects its role as a gallery of modern art. Opened in 1968, the gallery is laid out on two levels, with intricate lighting installations to enable the pictures and objects to be seen at their best; the design of the interior, with rooms of widely varying size and height, also helps to achieve this objective. The layout can be varied by the use of movable partitions, and three open courts provide effective display areas for sculpture. The gallery is mainly used as an extension of the Tate Gallery to display its modern art collection and also presents various national and international exhibitions. The development of the South Bank as a center of the arts, which was initiated by the old London County Council, has given this area an important place in the artistic life of the capital. Here, in addition to the Hayward Gallery, are the Royal Festival Hall, the Queen Elizabeth Hall and Purcell Room, the National Film Theatre, with two cinemas, the Royal National Theatre, with three separate auditoriums, and the new Museum of the Moving Image.